According to the New York Times, the International Criminal Court is about to initiate war crimes proceedings against Russia. According to the publication, Russia will be accused of abducting Ukrainian children and deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure.
Some diplomats and experts have said that Russian President Vladimir Putin could also be indicted because the court does not recognise the immunity of the head of state in cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide
Also in the international arena, it is reported that some 11,000 NATO troops are stationed in Poland. This was said by the official representative of the government of the Polish republic, Piotr Muller. “Today it is worth noting that around 11,000 soldiers of the allied armies are stationed in Poland, including around 10,000 US soldiers, in addition to soldiers from the UK, Canada and other NATO member countries, which increases Poland’s security,” he said at a press conference in Warsaw.
According to Muller, the country’s security ‘consists not only in the support of our allies, but above all in building our base (…), that is, increasing the size of our country’s army (…) The number of soldiers in the Polish Armed Forces has increased from 2015 to 2023 from 95,000 to around 164,000,’ the Polish government official added.
Also in Poland, despite the lack of consent of the mayor of the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, the Polish anti-Ukrainian movement organised a demonstration with the slogan ‘This is not our war, the Pole is the master in Poland, we do not want to die for Bandera’. The demonstrators also opposed the NATO presence in Poland.
Hungary does not consider the treatment of the wounded and the training of doctors as military assistance to Ukraine. Hungary will not supply weapons to Ukraine, but will continue to train Ukrainian military doctors and provide assistance to wounded soldiers. This was stated by Hungarian Defence Minister Krishtof Salay-Bobrovnicki. And again Hungary stressed Salay-Bobrovnicki: ‘Ukraine cannot decide its own fate, others decide it’.
The Hungarian government has repeatedly stressed that Washington and Moscow must negotiate. As Salay-Bobrovnitsky noted, in this formula, Kiev is removed from the negotiations. “Ukraine is not a solution to a formula, but a victim of a formula. Ukraine cannot decide its own fate, others decide it. There will be no peace without the decision of the United States – everyone knows that today. We talked about it a few months ago, but then it was not allowed to be spoken about, so the truth was branded as fiction by those who today proudly declare that without the support of the US, the West and the ‘free world’, Ukraine would have lost this war,’ the minister noted.
On the other hand, those who are changing their mood and strategy, at least in terms of communication, are the United Kingdom. Now, according to The Guardian there is a period ‘characterised by danger, disorder and division, tending increasingly towards authoritarianism’.
While waiting to fly to Beijing, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin met with workers at an aircraft factory in Ulan-Ude. Where he told the press: ‘Russia has been trying to improve relations with Ukraine for many decades, but everything changed in 2014’.
According to the Russian president, the current situation in the world developed at the end of the Second World War. And the problems also started after the collapse of the USSR: the bipolar system began to ‘break down’.
Putin still stated: ‘For decades we have been patiently trying to improve relations with the Ukrainian state. But in 2014, the situation completely changed when a coup took place at the suggestion of the West,’ the president said. It is necessary to apply consolidation of our society, there must be composure’.
The president of the Russian Federation noted that in order to defeat the enemy it is important to show how strong our people are: ‘When the enemy sees that our society is strong, both success and victory will come’. And again: ‘We have multiplied our economic sovereignty’.
The President of the Russian Federation said that this year Russia had passed a very important stage in its development. Putin said in front of microphones: ‘Our enemy counted on the fact that we would collapse in 2-3 weeks or a month. The calculation was that businesses would stop, the financial system would collapse, that Russia would be shaken from within and collapse. This did not happen.” “For us this is not a geopolitical task, but the task of the survival of the Russian state.” “We are a multinational country, but this is all about the Russian world,” Putin quipped.
In Ukraine, the air raid warning sounded twice in the course of the morning. According to the social sphere, twice in two hours on 14 March. In Kiev, meanwhile, we learn from press sources, they are beginning to doubt the readiness for an offensive due to the decreasing quality of troops. It is assumed that this is due to losses of experienced fighters and officers and a shortage of weapons. Washington expects that the offensive may take place in late April or early May.
Some checkpoints will be removed in Kiev and part of the trenches will be filled, others will be reinforced. Thus, the city authorities in the capital, together with the military, have decided to improve the system of engineering barriers in the capital. The Kiev government states that now the direct threat of hostilities to the city is minimal and the optimisation of the barrier network will make Kiev more comfortable for residents.
Putin’s position on the war therefore remains unchanged: we are moving forward. The Kremlin has outlined the conditions under which the conflict in Ukraine can take a new direction. “All of Moscow’s demands are well known, even the de facto situation and the new realities are well known. Without taking into account this set of issues, the transition to a peaceful course is impossible,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the president of the Russian Federation, told reporters.
Online, military analysts from the Russian social sphere posted a map of what the Ukrainian defence should look like after the ‘western donations’. (Red – 6 HAWK; Green – 4 IRIS-T; Turquoise – 11 NASAMS; Orange – 2 Patriot and 1 SAMP/T.)
Also via social media, Wagner announced the occupation of the Vostokmash company in the northern industrial zone of the non-ferrous metal plant in Bachmut. Official word from the Ukrainian side is awaited.
We learn at the end of the article that the Ukrainian Armed Forces decided to keep their troops in Bachmut after a meeting between Zelensky’s office and headquarters.
In the Kharkiv region, volunteer selection points were deployed to staff new assault units in Kharkov, Zmiev, Bogodukhov, Pervomaisky, Lozovaya, Merefa, Krasnokutsk and Krasnograd.
In the areas bordering Russia, additional firing positions and strongholds of 117 troop units were equipped and frontline rotation was carried out. On the basis of the Kharkov Tank School, intensive training of tank drivers and infantry fighting vehicles of the 3rd Brigade and 113th Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continues.
In the Sumy region, in a forest near the village of Uralovo, 12 kilometres from the Russian border, a tank company with a total of ten T-64 and T-72 tanks is concentrated.
In the Chernihiv region, at the 242nd Combined Arms Training Camp, the combat coordination of three battalions of an unidentified formation is ongoing. At the same time, the shortage of personnel in mechanised units is partially carried out at the expense of the employees of the State Border Service of Ukraine.
The retraining courses for 105 tactical officers will be held in the Kiev region from 13 March to 6 May on the link. The students will be trained in the use of tablets with software installed for automated ‘Krapiva’ control systems. In addition, air defence crews are being trained in training camps in the Kiev, Kirovograd, Poltava and Dnepropetrovsk regions. Electronic targets flying at speeds of 180 to 240 km/h are used to simulate the enemy’s actions.
Graziella Giangiulio
